"Well, I feel like pickin' a fight...with anybody who claims they're right...all the preacher men, the politicians, all the critics and the things they write..."--Bob Walkenhorst, The Rainmakers "Reckoning Day" (1989)

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Misc. Musings

A TRULY MOVING EXPERIENCEI spent most of my day helping a good friend of mine move into his newly-built house today. I'm tired, and I'll probably be sore as hell tomorrow, but I feel a nice sense of satisfaction all the same—it's nice to be able to return the favor to a friend who has helped me numerous times in the past. I do have one thing I'd like to say to my good friend, though: DON'T MOVE NO MORE!!! (Please!)

BILL FLEMMING, 1926-2007Was saddened to learn of the death this week of longtime ABC sportscaster Bill Flemming at age 80. I most associate him with college football coverage during the early ‘70s, but there was no sport too minor for Bill—he gladly would cover most anything for "Wide World of Sports"—everything from cliff diving to barrel jumping to cow chip tossing. I always enjoyed Flemming’s narration (in those pre-ESPN days) on the weekly Sunday morning college football highlight show ("College Football America", I believe it was called) that featured 6-8 games from the previous day. Although it always pissed me off that they never showed Missouri highlights on it, the show was a perfect lead-in to the NFL pregame shows on Sundays, and Bill Flemming was a part of the sports soundtrack of my youth right up there with the likes of Pat Summerall, Keith Jackson, the late Curt Gowdy and—here’s a blast from the past for you—Al DeRogatis.

R.I.P., Bill—ya done good...

LET IT GO, ALREADY!I would give almost anything for ESPN and the rest of the sports talk yappers to drop their obsession about whether baseball commish Bud Selig is going to be around when and/or if Barely Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s home run record. Both Selig and Bonds are assholes anyway, and I really don’t care to watch Bud flashing a big fake smile like Eli Manning did when he stood there at the 2005 NFL draft holding that Chargers jersey out like it was a bustier for him to wear. I still hope Bonds suffers a career-ending injury before he gets to 756, but if he does indeed break the record, I still have yet to decide how I'll react. I've narrowed it down to four: scratch my balls, fart, yawn or all of the above. I'll be sure to let everyone know what transpires when and if it's necessary...

FEMA SCHEDULES AIRLINE FLIGHTS NOW?I've been perusing flights and airfares for my upcoming September vacation to the Bay Area. Get a load of this return flight one can select for $300, round-trip: Depart the Oakland airport at 10PM, California time, and fly all the way to Atlanta—yes, the one in Georgia, folks—then turn around and fly back to Kansas City and arrive at 9AM the next morning, Missouri time! Meantime, there are plenty of other return flights that are a $100 cheaper and stop in cities on the way like Salt Lake City and Denver. Could someone please explain the logic in this to me like I'm a four-year-old?

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC WILL BE AT THE HELM......for our new Sprint Center arena's shakedown cruise on October 13th. It seems that Reginald Kenneth Dwight of Pinner, Middlesex, England will throw out the first pitch and play the first concert at our new hootenanny joint. Sounds like a plan to me...